New laws in 6 states ban late-term abortions

By ERIK ECKHOLM New York Times

Published 1:01 am, Monday, June 27, 2011

Dozens of new restrictions passed by states this year have chipped away at the right to abortion by requiring women to view ultrasounds, imposing waiting periods or cutting funds for clinics. But a new kind of law has gone beyond such restrictions, striking at the foundation of the abortion rules set out by the Supreme Court over the last four decades.

These laws, passed in six states in little more than a year, ban abortions at the 20th week after conception, based on the theory that the fetus can feel pain at that point -- a notion disputed by mainstream medical organizations in the U.S. and Britain. Opponents of abortion say they expect discussion of fetal pain will alter public perception of abortion, and they have made support for the new laws a litmus test for Republicans seeking the presidency.

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The laws directly conflict with the key threshold set by the Supreme Court: that abortion cannot be banned until the fetus becomes viable. Viability, the ability to survive outside the womb, usually occurs at the 24th week of pregnancy or later.

Balch and other advocates say they relish a test of the laws in the Supreme Court, where they believe a narrow victory might be possible, changing the terms of the abortion debate for good.

Only 1.5 percent of the 1.21 million abortions each year, or about 18,000, occur later than 20 weeks after conception, and many of these involve medical emergencies, said Elizabeth Nash, a policy analyst in Washington with the Guttmacher Institute, a research group.